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U.S. Director of Exempt Organizations for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Lois Lerner waits to testify at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on alleged targeting of political groups seeking tax-exempt status from by the IRS, on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 22, 2013. Lerner, the IRS official who this month revealed the tax agency's targeting of conservative groups asserted her constitutional right not to answer questions before a congressional committee on Wednesday. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS) - RTXZWM0

Republicans recall Lois Lerner to testify on IRS targeting

Alex Pappas

Alex Pappas is a Washington D.C.-based political reporter for The Daily Caller. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and the Mobile Press-Register. Pappas is a graduate of The University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., where he was editor-in-chief of The Sewanee Purple. While in college, he did internships at NBC's Meet the Press and the White House. He grew up in Mobile, Ala., where he graduated from St. Paul's Episcopal School. He and his wife live on Capitol Hill.

Republicans on Capitol Hill are not giving up on getting testimony out of Lois Lerner, the disgraced IRS official at the center of last year’s scandal over the agency’s targeting of conservative groups for special review.

In a letter to Lerner’s attorney on Tuesday, House Oversight Committee Chair Darrell Issa said he is recalling her to testify on March 5 on her role in the scandal.

Last May, Lerner — the director of the tax exempt and government entities division of the IRS — appeared before the committee for its hearing, “The IRS: Targeting Americans for Their Political Beliefs.” But she gave only an opening statement before invoking the Fifth Amendment.

“The subpoena you accepted on Ms. Lerner’s behalf remains in effect,” Issa wrote in the letter. “In light of this fact, and because the committee explicitly rejected her Fifth Amendment privilege claim, I expect her to provide answers when the hearing reconvenes on March 5.”

Issa wrote that Lerner is “is uniquely positioned to provide testimony that will help the committee better understand how and why the IRS targeted these groups.”

“Ms. Lerner’s testimony remains critical to the Committee’s investigation,” Issa wrote. “Documents and testimony obtained by the Committee show that she played a significant role in scrutinizing applications for tax exempt status from conservative organizations.”